Wildfire
by LostForeverInHisEyes
Summary: Who was she? Where was she? Why did she leave? What would he do when he finally found her again?   My original 'who was she' story. Callen/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Wildfire**

_Authors Notes:_

_Working with the idea that she was a good thing in his life, cause his life can't have been all bad or lonely or whatever. Figure she had to be something extra special to have him feel that way. It's, shall we say, suggestive but nothing graphic. Does contain adult themes, but I don't think anything that should need an M rating. However, as always, if you come across anything that makes you think otherwise, please pm me._

_I've been sitting on this for a little while whilst writing a few others and, after completing "The Badge", a couple of the plot bunnies decided to come back to this, polish it off and put it out there for you to read and, hopefully review. Nowhere near as long as that story though._

_Prompted by the following comment from "Keepin' it Real,"_

_Agent Giordano - Must have been some cop._

_G -She was._

_Vague spoliers for "Past Lives" and "Found"._

_Assumptions on Callen's background. Started with OSP LA just over three years ago._

_This is the story of the woman, Erin, referenced briefly in my story "Lost and Found". There are also references to Rachel from that story in this toward the end, so if you want, a quick read of that might help before the end._

_Yes, it's a romance/drama. My favourite kind._

_Hope you enjoy._

_Disclaimer - Anything you recognise from TV, not mine. Just playing with the characters because it's fun. OC's I will claim, as well as the original parts to the story._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o  
_

**Prologue**

As she gathered up the paper-work that was in front of her, she heard footsteps getting closer. She turned to the sound and as she did, as strange voice came to her ear, from where she did not know. Just that she hadn't heard it before, yet somehow it was familiar.

"Eliana," it said.

Something in her mind clicked, like a door opening, and as memories came flooding into her mind, too fast for her to comprehend, a darkness started to descend and her body sank to the floor with a soft thud that she didn't hear; the darkness having completely taken over by then.

When she opened her eyes, how much later she wasn't sure, she looked into the eyes of the man she despised most in the world as he knelt beside her and taped her cheek. This was very wrong. Those were not the eyes she was supposed to wake up to. These were cold, shallow and evil, the others were warm despite their blueness, deep and beautiful. She quickly schooled her face into what she hoped was her usual cold and emotionless expression.

"Tanya, what happened?" he asked.

She narrowly suppressed a shudder and moved to stand up, forcing him to step back from her.

"Fainted," she stated as she turned to gather up the paper-work, as she had been before.

"You should see a doctor," he advised in that cold, sickening tone of his. She knew his concern for her had nothing to do with her, but with what he would lose if she couldn't function. "You have never fainted before.

"I am quite capable of knowing what I need to do, Garik," she replied, turning her cold look on him. Seeing him step back slightly, she felt relief that she could still pull off the character she had been before.

She felt her stomach churn at the thought of being in the same room as him any longer. She picked up the pile of paper-work, turned and left the room, closing the door firmly behind her. Her pace and outward appearance was that of her usual confident self. Inside however, was a completely different story. Something had gone very, very wrong. Showing no outward sign of it, she took some slow, deep, calming breaths in an attempt to settle the trembling that was going on inside her body and her mind. Relax. Make the call. Twenty four hours and this will all be over. She glanced briefly out the window as she passed by, saw the mass of trees and jungle, that surrounded the compound and wondered just where the calvary would come from.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N - There is a small change of view in this but I've marked it so hopefully it makes sense. Was tempted to make this two chapters, but then they would have been a little small. Enjoy._

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

**Chapter 1**

Callen and Sam arrived at the office and headed straight up the stairs. Hetty's order to hurry up and get to work, still ringing in their ears. They were both confused by the order, considering it was only eight am and they were most definitely not late.

"What have we got, Hetty?" Callen asked as he and Sam walked into the room, noting Kensi, Eric and Nate had already joined Hetty.

"A special request, Mr Callen," replied Hetty, turning her gaze to him. There was a serious look on her face, one that didn't match the intrigue that her answer gave. Callen noticed she focused more on him than Sam. It unsettled him slightly.

"From who?" Sam asked.

"The President," came Hetty's somewhat shocking reply.

Callen raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked, confused. A direct request from the President was something they'd never had before. He wasn't entirely sure that the President would take much notice of them, let alone ask them, specifically, to do something.

Hetty nodded, her gaze still on Callen.

"Let's hear it then," Sam prompted, sounding curious, as did the rest of the team. They had all straightened up slightly and turned their bodies to face Hetty, a sign that this had just gotten more interesting to them all.

"Garik Hampton."

The name caused Callen to freeze briefly. It brought back memories of another life, one he had tried to keep locked away for just over three years.

"What about him, Hetty?" Sam asked. No one seemed to have noticed Callen's reaction, they'd all been too focused on Hetty at the time.

"He is in L.A. We have been assigned to recover him," Hetty replied, her gaze traveling briefly to Callen. A touch on concern in it. She hadn't missed his reaction.

"Recover him?" Kensi repeated, frowning. "Who is he?"

"Head of an international terrorist network," he said, "Controls billions. Basically, has an army at his disposal."

Callen felt the tension rise in him at the description of Hampton. There was so much more to him than that, but Sam had covered it fairly well in such a brief statement.

"And we are supposed to get him how?" Kensi asked, confused that they would be asked to do something like this. It certainly didn't sound like it had anything to do with the navy.

Hetty continued her explanation, at least she continued explaining the mission. She didn't explain why they were dealing with something that was so obviously not in their jurisdiction.

"Gark Hampton arrived in the country three days ago." Hetty turned to Eric and nodded. Eric brought up the details on the screen and they all turned toward it.

"The CIA have been monitoring him since. He appears to have a routine. In six hours, they estimate he'll be in his hotel room with just one bodyguard and his personal assistant. There'll be two guards on the floor outside," Eric summarised for them quickly.

"Personal Assistant my ass," Sam said sarcastically. "Personal Assassin more like it."

"Sam! Enough," Callen snapped at his partner.

Sam frowned at the force behind Callen's uncharacteristic remark.

"What? You know as well as I do that that's what she is," Sam replied. Hampton didn't get his hands dirty and his assassins were good, too good. That was why Hampton chose them, he only ever had one at a time. They never left a trace to connect anyone to the deaths. Aside from the terrorist connections of the victims, that lack of evidence was the only thing that the actual murders had in common, which is why they were attributed to Hampton's operation. All 175 and counting over the last twenty years.

Hetty stepped slightly closer to Callen.

"That doesn't seem like a lot of security for someone likely to be a target," Nate remarked.

"He doesn't need much when he's got her around," Sam answered.

Callen turned to Hetty, "Who else is working with us?" he asked, knowing that it wouldn't just be them.

"I have ten additional agents to help secure the building and the floor. This should allow the three of you to enter the building and the room, without threat of anyone interrupting the recovery," Hetty confirmed, looking at the three of them in turn, with Callen being the last and the longest, like she was trying to ask him something silently.

Sam shook his head. "No. Not just the three of us, Hetty. Come on, with the rep of this one, that's not enough."

Sam didn't like the odds at all. Hell, he wouldn't even like the odds if it was ten to one against the reputation of the assassin. Rumour had it the latest one could take down at least five attackers before any other shots were fired. She didn't miss either, each and every shot deadly. Admittedly, all this was rumour, but still he wasn't about to ignore it.

"No," Callen disagreed, "the three of us'll be fine."

Sam was about to protest when Hetty spoke up.

"I agree," Hetty added firmly. Sam frowned as Hetty continued. "By the time you get any more in the room, it will be too late. Study the details, make your plan. We've been after Hampton for almost twenty years, it's finally time."

"So we actually have something on this guy now?" Sam asked Hetty.

Hetty nodded. "CIA have enough to warrant this operation. Code name is Wildfire."

Callen let out a barely audible sigh at the word, one he'd been waiting so long to hear. Again, only Hetty heard his reaction.

She turned to him, a questioning look on her face. Callen nodded his understanding. He knew what he had to do. Hetty briefly glanced at Kensi and Sam. Again, he nodded, assuring her he could handle them. He might not like what he had to do, but it would be essential to the success and he would explain his actions later, when he was allowed to.

Hetty stepped out of the room, leaving them to the details. Callen took a moment, briefly allowing himself to hope that this would all end well.

Kensi looked at Callen as he stepped over to the table to join the team.

"She didn't say why us," Kensi added. "This isn't navy. Why don't the CIA take care of it?"

"President's orders Kenz," Callen answered lightly. "You want to call him and say, 'Sorry Sir, but we can't help you,' go for it."

Kensi rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying that. Just don't understand why us."

"Don't worry about it. Let's just do this," Callen said as he started looking through the papers on the table and scanning the files on the screen.

o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

Six hours later, everything was going according to plan. The additional agents had secured the building and the floor without incident. Now, it was down to the three of them to go into the room and do the job.

This was when Callen changed the plan.

"Remember, alive if we can, but if there is any risk of losing him, do what you have to do. Kensi," Callen's voice taking on a firm leader tone as he gave the new orders. "You take the bodyguard. Sam, you take Hampton. Leave Tanya to me. Don't aim at her, don't look at her," Callen ordered, just before they were at the door to the room.

Kensi frowned, as did Sam. They exchanged confused glances at the change of plans.

"G, she's a killer. We take her out first. That's the plan. It's a good one. Don't change it." Sam said. He hadn't liked to odds at three to one, he certainly wasn't liking the one on one idea that Callen had just suggested.

"Just do it Sam," Callen replied. "Trust me. I'll be fine." He trusted that they would do what he asked, even if they didn't agree. He wouldn't be here with them if he didn't.

"Callen, don't be stupid," Kensi added her protest. "Sam's right. Hampton's no threat without her, and the bodyguard is there to take the hits for him, not kill anyone." She'd read the files on this Hampton and his cohorts. She didn't like the sound of Tanya, the personal 'assistant', at all.

"I'm not," Callen shook his head slightly, looking at both of them. "She'll kill both of you before one of you gets a shot off if it looks like you are going for her," Callen added firmly, his words causing Kensi and Sam to tense. They wanted to argue but there really wasn't time.

"G,.." started Sam.

"Sam, don't make me pull rank, just do it." Their arrival at the door stopping their conversation and any further protest. It was time.

"On 3," Callen mouthed silently.

"1, 2, 3," Sam signaled. Callen went through first, Sam and Kensi next.

Callen focused on the woman, Tanya, trusting Sam and Kensi to follow the new orders. He thought he saw a flash of something in her eyes, but he couldn't be sure. She was quick. She had her gun pointed at him, steady and deadly, before he had his halfway to being on her. But she didn't pull the trigger. Callen took two slow steps closer to her and stopped. His eyes darted to check on Kensi and Sam; they had the bodyguard and Hampton covered. No one was moving. Callen looked back at Tanya, she looked at him, her gaze not flickering at all. He didn't look away. She didn't move, neither did he.

"Kill them," Callen heard Hampton order her.

"Eliana," Callen said, watching her reaction carefully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

_Change of POV - Tanya_

The moment she heard the click on the door lock and turn of the handle, she stood and raised her gun quickly. It was trained on him before he was even halfway through it. A flash of weakness went through her body when she saw him, but she held herself still and did nothing to give herself away. Her hand didn't even shake. She had the gun pointed right where it should be for a clean, immediate kill. She saw him take two steps closer before he stopped. Her eyes locked on his. Her mind screamed at him, 'Say it. Let me know you are here for me. Tell this nightmare is over'. It felt like forever to her, between when she heard Garik order her to kill them and when he said the word, but it was barely more than a second.

"Eliana." That voice, of so familiar, of so missed.

In barely more than a blink of an eye, she had the bodyguard dead and her gun aimed at Garik.

"Tell me they want him dead. Tell me and I'll do it myself," she said, letting her emotions fill her voice with the fury she'd felt for so long against this man.

_End of POV change_

~~~~~~~~~~~~o

"Erin," Callen warned, hearing the emotions in her voice. He was worried. This wasn't right. Sam and Kensi were confused and shocked at the speed of the turn around. They had their guns pointed at Hampton, but their focus was jumping between Hampton and Erin or Tanya, whoever she was.

"Traitor!" Hampton growled, as he pulled the trigger on a small gun he had concealed.

Erin heard the three shots, so close together most others would have only heard one. Hampton's flashed past her shoulder, just grazing her. He'd always been a hopeless shot, which was why he had her.

Fear spurred Callen's reaction when he saw the slight movement that gave away Hampton's intentions as he spoke. Callen's shot going through Hampton's head at the same time that Erin's went through the heart. Not a chance would he have survived either of the deadly accurate shots.

Erin turned and looked back to Callen, relief pouring through her, as she felt her body start to shake. She noticed his team had their guns on her now. She lowered her arm slowly, released the chamber from the gun and dropped both pieces on the floor, as far from each other as she could. She didn't want any accidents and honestly, she was relieved not to be holding it anymore.

As Callen lowered his, Erin saw the other two tense. She realised they must have read the files on Tanya and knew that even without a gun she could be deadly. Erin looked back to Callen, their eyes locking on one another again. She felt the tears start to fill her eyes. They were the eyes she was supposed to wake up to.

"G," Sam said in warning, as Callen started to walk over to her, holstering his gun as he did. His eyes not letting go of the woman's in front of him. He saw the shining of her tears. Out of his peripheral vision, he could tell that she was shaking.

"Relax Sam. She's one of ours," Callen said as he stepped up to her. He stopped in front of her and said gently, "That wasn't quite what I was expecting. You were supposed to faint."

"I did," Erin replied, her voice shaky. "Two months ago." She stepped into his arms, looking up at him.

Two months? Callen looked into her eyes and saw the tears and the pain, his arms going around her automatically. It was so natural.

"I love you, G Callen. Mission over. Please ... take me home," Erin begged softly. Callen raised a hand to her face, stroked her cheek softly and slipped it behind her head. She hadn't moved like she usually did and he realised why. She didn't know if she should. He smiled softly at her, and gently touched his lips to hers. He felt and heard her take in a shaky breath before she slid her arms around his neck and moved into the kiss. One which was a gentle, soft and tender, filled with longing. One that was like coming home.

Kensi and Sam looked at each other and then back to Callen and Erin.

"What are we missing, Kenz?" Sam asked Kensi, confused.

"It's Callen. I'd say a lot," Kensi replied as she lowered her gun. Somehow she didn't think she'd need it anymore.

When Callen pulled back he looked into Erin's eyes, stroked some of the tears gently off her cheek and then looked over to his confused team mates.

"So, G. What are we missing?" Sam asked. Callen smiled and turned slightly towards them, keeping his arm around Erin's waist, supporting her. Erin was grateful for that, because she wasn't sure if she could stand up on her own at the moment.

"Sam, Kensi, this is CIA Special Agent Erin Walker." Callen looked back down at her, a tender smile on his face as he added. "The real reason I don't date cops." He turned back to his team and saw Sam give him a look that meant he had many more questions which he would ask later. He hoped he'd be able to answer them soon.

"You don't date much anyway," Kensi commented.

Erin looked at him, frowned. "You didn't ... ?" she started to say.

"I looked. Just wasn't much out there," Callen replied as he looked down at her. He noticed Erin was still shaking. "We should get you out of here. You've been waiting long enough."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

**Chapter 2**

Callen didn't know how long they had been in the room before Hetty opened the door. He'd cleaned and taped up the graze from the bullet on Erin's shoulder a while ago and they had been standing quietly together, his arms around her, hers around him, just waiting.

They'd waited three years for this moment. Three years where Callen had tried not to think of her, or what she had been doing. Three years where the hope that he would get her back, alive, had never died, even if it had been slowly fading as time passed. But she was here, in his arms. Alive, safe and well. At least physically. Mentally, he wasn't sure. Two months. Her words kept ringing his ears. That wasn't the way it was supposed to end. The pain in her voice and her eyes. He wanted to know what happened, but he couldn't ask yet. Protocols meant she needed to be debriefed first.

Callen's gaze turned to the door as Hetty walked through, another agent walking in behind her. Agent Simpson, CIA. His face familiar to Callen, even though it had been three years since he had seen him.

Callen turned back to Erin, whose head was still resting against his shoulder, facing away from the door. She looked up at him.

"Debrief," Callen said softly. Erin nodded and reluctantly moved out of his arms as they moved from where they were standing to the table to take a seat.

"Hello, Agent Walker," Simpson greeted as he put his briefcase down on the table.

Callen felt a brief sense of loss and, before he could register why, or anyone else could react, Erin had Simpson pinned to the wall, unable to move and her hand was at his throat.

"Erin!" Callen shouted as he quickly moved toward her. He wasn't the only one. He saw Sam move to pull her off and yelled at him to stop.

"Sam, no!" Sam stopped at the urgency of his order. "Don't touch her." Callen knew what she was capable of and trying to pull her off may only make it happen quicker. She could very well react to the threat of being pulled away and do what she was thinking before turning on her own attacker.

Erin looked into the eyes of the man she now despised the most in the world.

"How could you leave me in that hell for two months?" Erin asked, clearly and slowly pronouncing every word. Her voice full of anger and pain.

"The mission wasn't finished yet," Simpson said. Callen frowned. That hadn't been the deal.

"It was for me," Erin replied. "You promised me twenty four hours and I'd be out. I did my part, you didn't do yours."

"There was too much at stak..." Simpson's voice was choked off as she increased the pressure.

"Erin, don't," Callen pleaded. She heard his voice, so familiar, but it didn't make a difference. She wasn't finished with the man in front of her.

"Do you have any idea what he made me do over the last two months? What _I_ had to do? Not her, but me?" Erin asked, her voice shaky and getting more emotional with each word.

"Erin," Callen said firmly but softly, stepping slightly closer but making sure not to touch her.

Erin heard him again. Oh, how she had missed him, his voice, everything about him, but even that couldn't make her pull back. The pain this man, whose blood raced beneath her fingers, had caused her, what he had caused her to have to do to survive; that was all she could focus on. How easy it would be, just a small movement on her part and she would never have to deal with him again. He would barely feel it, which is more than he deserved for leaving her in hell.

"On a scale of 0-100 on how guilty I would feel if you didn't leave this room alive, compared to everything I have had to do in these last two months, you'd be a minus ten. Tell me why I shouldn't?" Erin asked, her voice extremely dangerous. Erin looked in his eyes again; saw the fear and she froze. She'd seen that look too many times. She knew she couldn't kill him, knew she wouldn't keep moving forward with this, but she still had to figure out how to pull back. She was caught in limbo, frozen, and didn't know how to get out. She could feel the panic in her start to rise. Then, like a knight in shining amour riding to her rescue, Callen's voice finally broke through.

"Erin Elizabeth Callen," he said firmly, hoping it would still have the same effect on her as it used to. Erin's attention flew to him. She unfroze and released her hold, stepping back away quickly from Simpson, who almost fell to the floor with relief, except that Sam pulled him up and pushed him out the door. Callen stepped between her and the door, she looked at his face. He finally reached out to her and she almost fell against him in relief, breathing hard.

"Something else you forgot to tell us, G?" asked Sam.

"Later. Hetty, we need a minute." Callen didn't take his eyes off Erin.

"Of course, Mr Callen," Hetty replied as she moved everyone out the door and closed it quietly, leaving them alone.

"Erin, what the hell was that?" Callen asked her, softly.

"He knew. He was the one I called. He's the one who left me there. He promised me, Callen," Erin cried, so much despair in her voice alongside the pain.

"What happened?" Callen asked gently, not caring anymore that it should be left to the debrief. He needed to know.

"Most of them were innocent. They weren't all guilty," Erin replied, tears pooling in her eyes.

"How many?" Callen asked.

"Eight." she whispered.

Callen closed his eyes as he held her tight. Eight, not as Tanya but as her. She was never supposed to have had to do that.

"Erin."

She looked up.

"We need to get this done and get you away from here. Can you do it?" Callen asked, knowing that the sooner he could get her out of the office, somewhere quiet and neutral, she would start to recover. It was the way she dealt with things. Work orientated spaces didn't let her move on easily.

"I want someone else, not him. And I want to see Doctor Briar. I need to know what went wrong," Erin said. She started to breath deeply in an attempt to calm herself down. Her fingers were still itching to get back to Simpson.

"You gonna to be okay if I let you go, so I can talk to Hetty?" Callen asked.

"As long as you come back," Erin said, smiling slightly.

"Course I will," Callen promised, dropping a kiss on her forehead. Erin nodded.

Callen let go of her and stepped over to the door. Thankfully, Hetty was just outside.

"Hetty, we need someone else. Not him," Callen said looking at the man in question.

"Unfortunately there is no one else, Mr Callen," Hetty replied regretfully. "Agent Simpson is the one active agent remaining, who knows all the details of Wildfire."

"She wants to see Doctor Briar," Callen continued, hoping that the doctor was still around and that he could give Erin at least one of her requests.

"Already on his way," Hetty said, nodding.

Callen turned around and went back into Erin, leaving the door open this time.

"Erin," Callen started to say.

"I heard," Erin said. "Keep me away from him?" she asked him, almost begged of him.

"Sam can protect him and I'll take care of you," Callen replied as he slipped his arms back around her, partly for comfort, partly for protection and partly because he wasn't going to miss out on the chance to hold her again. She lent into him, arms slipping comfortably and with a familiarity that even three years apart couldn't take away.

"You think I can't get through Sam?" Erin asked, starting to sound like her old self.

"You were never that good at hand to hand," Callen answered with a grin.

"Correction, I was never that good against you at hand to hand," Erin replied as she thought back to when they first met.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

_Flashback to their first meeting - Approximately four years ago._

_Erins POV_

She was mad. The mission hadn't gone as planned. They missed the target and she was furious with the idiot who had messed up. She'd been in position, ready. Everything else had been set, he'd just had to get the target to walk out the door and he'd failed. Not only that, but now the mission had been compromised and they had to start again. It was going to be so much harder the second time around.

So, she came to the gym, got changed, strapped her hands and went to find the punching bag. There was no one else around, which was good, and she started taking her frustration out on it. She knew she'd be sore tomorrow but she really didn't care. She'd been pounding away for about five minutes when she heard someone behind her.

"Looks like someone's spoiling for a fight," a male voice said.

"You offering?" she asked as she turned around to look at him, her breath catching in her throat. If she'd been in a saner frame of mind, she would have realised that her reactions to this man were screaming that he was dangerous and got out of there.

"I'm game," he agreed. "Callen. You are?" he asked, by way of introduction.

"Erin," she replied.

"Shall we?" Callen suggested as he moved to the mats.

She followed, wondering who he was and why he had just offered to fight with her. Callen grinned at her and she didn't have a good feeling about this, but she wouldn't back down. Plus, there was only so much frustration a punching bag could get rid of, it was too predictable.

"Ladies first," Callen offered her the chance to make the first move.

She felt a smile form on her face. Anyone who knew her, knew not to make that offer. She took him down quickly and easily. He didn't seem upset, just got back up ready for the next turn. He hadn't even fought back. When she took him down again, though not quite as easily, she had an odd feeling he was playing with her.

The next move proved her theory right, as he had her trapped quickly, her back against him and she couldn't move. She had no idea how he had done it, it was so quick.

"Not good enough," Callen whispered in her ear as he held her against him. She felt her body go weak as his breath ran down her neck and then he released her. She turned and looked at him, shock running though her at the way he had made her feel. No one had ever done that to her before.

"Is that it?" Callen provoked her.

The insane urge to run fled at his words and arrogant look. So they kept going, and he kept winning. Briefly the thought came through her mind that she should have stayed with the punching bag. This wasn't helping ease her frustrations as she had hoped. She wasn't normally like this. She knew what she was doing. She was so much better than this. It was like he made her weak. The moment he touched her, her body felt like it was on fire and her breathing was erratic. She never got this breathless, even after running for two hours. When he had her pinned down to the mat, on top of her, he leaned down to her ear and whispered, "Come now Erin Walker, I heard you were better than this."

Her eyes went wide as he said her full name. He knew who she was. Oh God, no. Little pieces of a puzzle that she didn't know existed clicked together in her mind - he knew her name, she'd never seen him before and today was the day she was to meet her new partner. No! He can't be.

Erin pushed against him and he rolled off her. She got up and ran out of the room, not caring what he thought. She ran to the locker room, grabbed a towel and stepped in to the shower cubicle, locking the door behind her. She slammed on the cold water and stripped off, stepping under and hoping that the cold would put out the fire in her that he had caused.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, shivering slightly as the cold water hit hit her heated back. This can't be happening. But she had a horrible feeling that it was.

If only Derek hadn't been a fool, if he hadn't been hurt. He'd gone rock climbing for his birthday, fell and smashed a knee. He'd be fine, but since he was out of action for field work for at least six months, he decided it was time to slow down, scored a desk job and proposed to his long time girlfriend, leaving her temporarily partner-less.

Derek was the perfect partner, this Callen wouldn't be. She fitted with Derek, they could be anything together. There was no awkwardness, they did the job, whatever it was with no issues, because there had been no spark whatsoever. She remembered the first time they'd had to kiss. He'd actually been disappointed that he hadn't made her weak at the knees. She'd laughed and reassured him it had been a lovely kiss, but just didn't do it for her in the knee department. He was perfect. Why did he have to be so stupid? She shivered again under the cold water and readjusted the temperature.

Once she was warm, she switched off the shower, dried herself and wrapped the towel around her. She'd been in such a hurry that she hadn't bothered grabbing her clean clothes. She unlocked the cubicle and walked out, having taken two steps when she froze as she saw Callen, sitting on the bench, waiting. For her. She knew that because he stood up and started walking toward her, a smile forming on his face. She stepped back nervously, which just made his eyes sparkle and the smile slightly bigger. A smile that made her blood heat, turning the cold shower she had just endured into a pointless exercise. Instead of stepping back into the cubicle though, she had backed herself into the wall next to it. Callen moved close to her, she could barely breath. He put one hand on the wall on one side of her head and bent down slowly to whisper in her other ear; he didn't touch her anywhere.

"Same time tomorrow, you need the practice," he whispered and then walked away.

She had no idea how long it was before she could move. It wasn't until her phone rang that she finally pulled herself together.

"Walker," she said answering it.

"You're late," came her boss's voice. She closed her eyes briefly. She'd forgotten she was supposed to meet him.

"I'll be there soon. Sorry," she said quickly and hung up. She pulled on her clothes and, leaving her hair wet, she raced off to her boss's office. Erin walked through the door, closed it and turned around. Her 'Sorry boss' dying on her lips when she saw _him_. She stopped and looked over at her boss, eyes wide.

"Erin Walker, meet your new partner, G. Callen," Director Taylor said. She'd been hoping she was wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

Wildfire

Summary:-

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

_._

**Chapter 3**

"You really think you can take Sam?" Callen looked over his shoulder at Sam standing in the doorway. So did Erin.

"Not without a weapon. I know my weaknesses," Erin replied with a smile.

Callen turned back to her.

"Thought I was your only weakness." His tone intimate and knowing, whilst giving her with a look that proved his point, as she felt her body respond as it always had.

Pulling her thoughts away from what couldn't happen yet, Erin focused back on Sam.

"Fine, I know my limitations then," she corrected. Ex or current seals who were in shape like Sam, were definitely one of them.

Callen looked at her. She smiled. She remembered that look, his silent way of asking if she was okay.

"I'll be fine," Erin assured. "Just don't leave me okay. I don't want to hurt him. Not really."

"I won't let you." Callen promised. "Let me talk to Sam."

Erin nodded and Callen moved away from her, stepping just outside the door. He briefly glanced back to see her lean back against the wall and put her head back, closing her eyes.

"Sam," Callen turned back to his partner. "I need you to make sure she doesn't get to Simpson," Callen requested seriously. Sam frowned, his eyes darting between G and Erin and back, but he nodded his understanding of the simple request. He trusted G knew what he was doing, though the list of questions he had for his partner was getting longer by the minute.

"Agent Hanna isn't cleared for Wildfire," protested Simpson.

Callen turned and glared at him, somehow managing to hold himself back from physically attacking him. After what Erin had just told him, he could easily understand her reaction now.

"Agent Simpson, you have a choice," dislike coming through clearly in Callen's voice. "Sam comes in and you get to do the debrief. Most likely leave the room in the same condition you entered. Sam doesn't and I can't guarantee you will walk out of there, let alone get any answers. Which is it?" Callen asked him.

Simpson cleared his throat. "Fine, Agent Hanna can come, but he'll need to be cleared first." Callen had witnessed the shudder that went through the agent and the paleness of his face. It appeared that Simpson was sensible enough and understood just how dangerous Erin could be.

"Five minutes," Callen responded, giving them time to sort out Sam's clearance, knowing Hetty wouldn't have a problem doing it in such a short time. This needed to be done, and done soon. Erin needed some peace. Callen went back into the room, closing the door.

"Sam will be here," Callen assured her. "We've got five minutes."

Erin looked at him with a familiar look in her eyes, one that he hadn't seen in so long and certainly wasn't expecting to see there right now.

"Erin," he warned, "We don't have time." Callen knew what she wanted from that look, and he wanted it too. Her look had set him on fire, just like his usually did to her. But one thing he didn't want, was it to be that quickly, not this time.

"We do. We have before," Erin said walking towards him. She'd missed him so much and just wanted to forget the past two months, just for a moment. She wanted a touch of heaven after the hell she had been in for so long.

"No, we don't," Callen repeated, wrapping his arms around her as she slipped hers around his neck.

"Of course, we-" Callen cut her off with a kiss, taking control before she could. When he felt she was distracted enough, he pulled back, hard as it was to do.

"No, we don't. Not for this first time," Callen said, softly but firmly.

"You're no fun," Erin replied, though he knew she wasn't actually complaining.

"I'll make it up to you. I promise." Callen stroked her cheek gently and she closed her eyes at his touch.

"I'll hold you to that," Erin replied. There was a knock on the door and they pulled apart. That certainly hadn't been five minutes.

"Are you both ready, Mr Callen?" Hetty asked, when she had opened the door.

Callen turned to Erin, allowing her to answer. She nodded.

"Bring him in Hetty, make sure Sam comes first." Callen put his hands on Erin's shoulders and pushed her back against the wall, putting his arms on either side, trapping her there. Callen saw her tense as Simpson came into the room. Having her against the wall was definitely the right move, if she'd been in the chair, he wouldn't have time to stop her if she went after him.

"I have questions I need answered, Agent Walker," Simpson said, as he sat down and spread some paper-work out in front of him.

"After you've answered mine," Erin demanded. Callen could hear the hatred she felt for this man in her voice and focused more on her, alert to her slightest movement.

"I need you to..." Simpson started. Callen saw her tension increase and the anger flare in her eyes.

"Mine first," Erin cut him off.

"I agree," Hetty said. "Agent Simpson, you will answer Agent Walker's questions first." Callen was pleased Hetty could see the danger easily and that Erin was desperately in need of answers.

Simpson nodded reluctantly. Erin smiled her thanks at Hetty and Callen saw her relax, just a little.

"Why did you leave me there?" Erin asked, looking at Simpson.

"The mission wasn't finished," Simpson replied.

"Why did you leave me there?" Erin asked again, as Callen saw her tension increase again, and heard the anger flare in her voice.

"I wouldn't make her ask a third time, Simpson," Callen warned, readying himself in case she tried to go after him.

"We had almost all of Hampton's camps marked. We knew he would be coming back stateside soon and we needed to know when and where. You needed to be with him so that we could find him," Simpson reported, sounding like he'd rehearsed it. There was no emotion in it, just facts.

"Not good enough," Erin said. "You promised me. What did Doctor Briar say?" she asked.

"We didn't ask him," Simpson replied.

Callen heard a small whimper from Erin and saw her close her eyes.

"You didn't ask him what being left there would do to me?" Erin asked, despair in her voice. Callen felt the tension in him increase as well, glad that Sam was there because he wasn't sure whether he would be able to hold himself back, let alone Erin. She'd been left in hell and no one had even asked her doctor whether she could handle it.

"No."

"Why not?" Erin asked through clenched teeth, eyes still closed, against the tears, even though one slipped through. Callen moved closer, making sure his body was touching hers. Erin felt her body's usual reaction to him, the weakness, the heat. So did he. Erin opened her eyes and looked at him, grateful for the minor distraction he had given her from the pain. Callen smiled. Nice to know he still had that affect on her. The fire and the comfort.

"Because the mission was more important," Simpson stated.

"No, you promised me. That was more important," Erin said, tears precariously close to overflowing from her eyes as she remembered the last two months. Callen moved even closer, trying to comfort her at the same time as protect her.

"You made it out, what's the problem?" Simpson asked, almost callously. Callen let go of her and was in Simpson's face before anyone else could move. Thankfully, the table was still between them.

"She was never supposed to be there as herself," Callen almost snarled at the agent, anger blazing in his eyes, fury in his voice. "It's the only reason we agreed to this. We all knew she couldn't do this if she wasn't Tanya." Simpson backed away in his chair, as far as he could go.

"She did," Simpson said, somewhat nervously. Callen wondered whether it would be worth it to get his hands on Simpson, just like Erin had. If he did, he wouldn't stop.

"G," Sam said. Callen turned to Sam, hearing the concern in his partner's voice.

"She's gone," Sam continued.

Callen turned around and Erin wasn't where he'd left her. He turned to Hetty.

"This isn't going to work, Hetty. Find someone else," Callen ordered as he left.

Callen found Erin where he'd always found her at times like these. At the punching bag. She'd always been able to find one, even when she didn't know her way around, like she had an inbuilt radar for them. He noticed the bag wasn't moving ... yet. He moved closer, quietly, not wanting to startle her. He saw the tension in her and he saw the first movement that gave away what she was about to do. He knew the signs well. Callen grabbed her hand from behind before she could throw the punch and spun her around. There were tears falling down her face.

"I have plans that won't work if these hands are broken," Callen said to her softly, pulling her into his arms and letting her cry.

It wasn't long before Callen felt Sam's presence, so did Erin. She pulled back and wiped away her tears. She'd always hated anyone else see her cry.

"You two okay?" asked Sam gently.

"We're okay," Callen replied, turning to face Sam.

Sam could see the tension in both of them, wanted to help ease it some how. So he tried.

"You gonna tell me what it is between the two of you?" Sam asked. "Or do I have to guess?" Sam continued with a grin.

Callen smiled his thanks to Sam for lightening the mood slightly. He looked down at Erin, she smiled back and he knew she wouldn't mind if he told Sam.

"We..." Callen stopped as Hetty came in with an older man behind her.

"Doctor Briar," Erin whispered.

"Erin," Briar said gently, not looking at anyone but Erin. Callen could see the tears in the man's eyes. He remembered how much the Doctor had cared about Erin, how concerned he had been about her doing this mission, and it's effects on her, should something go wrong.

"Mr Callen, Mr Hanna. Let's leave the doctor with his patient for a little while," Hetty ordered gently.

Callen looked at Erin. She nodded and he reluctantly stepped away from her, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze before he did. Doctor Briar stepped forward, taking Erin's hands in his.

"My dear, what happened?" Briar asked as Hetty, Callen and Sam walked out the door and away from them.

"Mr Callen, we have organised a hotel room for Agent Walker. These are the details and the key. You'll be able to take her straight to the room from the parking garage rather than have to go through reception. I am assuming that you are willing to take her back to the hotel," Hetty said.

"Yes Hetty. Thanks." Callen continued to his desk after accepting the information and key from Hetty.

"So?" asked Sam, prompting him to answer his earlier question once Hetty had moved far enough away.

"In a minute Sam, I need to make a call."


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N - Sam's questions start. This time we find out about Callen's pov of that first meeting. Answers from the last chapter, more details on what Erin was actually doing, will be in the next one. _

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

**Chapter 4**

Callen hung up the phone and turned to Sam.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, knowing that, finally, he could answer Sam's questions.

Sam deliberated for a moment, before choosing his first question. He'd always wondered and hadn't really believed Callen's aversion to someone bringing their own handcuffs story.

"She's the reason you don't date cops. Why?" Sam asked.

Callen wasn't surprised by the question, pleased in a way that it was probably the easiest one to answer that Sam could have asked him.

"Because the thought of dating a cop brings her to mind and it hurt too much," Callen answered honestly.

"Why?"

Callen looked Sam steadily in the eye as he answered. "I love her."

Sam looked shocked to hear him say those words and Callen smiled at the expression on his partner's face. It wasn't one he saw often.

"Love her?" Sam repeated. "How and when did that happen?"

"Four years ago," Callen answered, his smile and expression softening. "You believe in love at first sight, Sam?"

"No," Sam replied. "Neither do you." Sam looked at him for a moment and raised his eyebrows curiously, "Or do you?"

"It was close enough." It was there, it just took him a little while to work it out. He thought back to the first time he'd met Erin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

_Flashback to their first meeting - Approximately four years ago._

_Callen's POV_

"Who's that?" he asked, looking at the brunette who had just stormed into the office with two other agents following her. She looked seriously mad.

"That's Erin," Director Taylor replied.

So that was his new partner. She looked a little different to the photos in her file.

They both watched and listened as she told off one of the other agents.

"Everything was set, everyone in place. What the hell happened? All you had to do was get him to walk out the door. I even told you when to do it," blasted Erin, throwing her bullet proof vest onto her chair and turning to face the agent she was talking to.

"Look, things happened,..." the other agent said.

"Bull, things didn't happen. That's the problem," Erin snapped.

He was impressed how she didn't just back down, even though she was decidedly smaller than the other agent.

"Look you messed up. This wouldn't have happened if Derek had still been in charge." He saw her take a menacing step toward the agent.

"ERIN," yelled Director Taylor across the room, stopping her in her tracks. She didn't turn around, but from the slightly tilting of her head toward them, he knew she was listening.

"Go. Now. I'll see you in an hour," Taylor said firmly.

He watched her carefully. He saw her take a deep breath, then she turned away and left quickly, not looking their way.

"I hate paperwork," Taylor said with a grin.

He looked back at Taylor

"What happened?" he asked, slightly confused.

"Mission went bad. She hates to fail, especially when it shouldn't have. Add to the fact that Michaels just pushed her buttons and tried to put the blame on her for being female," Taylor replied.

He raised his eyebrows. "Did she mess up?" he asked. From what he knew from her file, he didn't think she would have, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

"No," Taylor confirmed. "He did, and he has a problem with her being in charge. I hate the paperwork involved if she'd hit him, which she was about to do."

"Can't really blame her." He wasn't liking the sound of Michaels. If he kept up that attitude, he'd make sure he wasn't on the team for long.

"Nope, but I can stop it going on her record and make sure it goes on his," Taylor said.

He glanced in the direction Erin had just disappeared.

"Where did she go?" he asked.

"Gym. She'll find a punching bag, preferably one hanging up. She'll be fine in a while," Taylor assured him

"Where's the gym?" he asked innocently. He'd only just arrived in the office an hour ago and hadn't had the official tour yet.

"Next floor down," Taylor said, looking at him curiously.

"Might check it out," he replied casually. Taylor didn't buy it.

"Callen, be careful. She's good and she's mad. Not the best combination at the moment."

He turned to Taylor. "You think I can't take her?" he asked, surprised.

Taylor grinned. "There isn't much she can't handle. She takes me down easily."

"You fight with her?"

"Yep," Taylor nodded. "If I need to release the frustration of a bad day and she's around and willing."

He knew Taylor's reputation for not going soft. Even though he had a desk job, he was still as physically capable as before.

"She let you win?" he asked curious.

"Nope," Taylor replied with a shake of his head.

"So how does it work? You're the boss."

"Not when I'm on that mat. We agreed, it works. I've actually gotten better since it started." Taylor looked across the room and saw Michaels heading toward the exit.

"Good luck Callen. Michaels, my office. Now!" Taylor called out.

.

He made his way down to the gym. Erin was already there, punching away. He watched her for a few minutes but she didn't let up. He wondered how much the punching bag could take and decided to see what she could actually do when it wasn't an idle bag she was attacking. He walked quietly over, until he was close enough for her to hear him without shouting.

"Looks like someone's spoiling for a fight," he said.

"You offering?" Erin asked as she turned around to look at him. He saw the fury in her eyes and saw her breath halt for just a moment.

"I'm game," he said. "Callen. You are?" he asked, noting there was no sign of recognition at his name. Guess Taylor hasn't told her much about her new partner.

"Erin," she replied.

"Shall we?" he asked, moving to the mats.

He saw the wary look on her face and he grinned at her. He saw something change in the look in her eyes.

"Ladies first," he offered, giving her the chance to make the first move. He wanted to know what she could do. He saw her start to smile, slightly surprised. He had a feeling she didn't get that kind of offer regularly.

He let her take him down, learning about her as she did. He felt something when she'd touched him, something hot and distracting. He pushed it aside and focused on her next move, still allowing her to take him down, just testing her reaction to him fighting back a little. She was good. Let's see how she does when she's not winning.

He had her back pulled up against him, making sure she couldn't move, before she realised what was happening. The heat and distraction flaring quickly in him at how good she felt against him. He could feel her breathing was heavy and he had to work hard to control his own. He hadn't expected such an instant reaction to holding her.

"Not good enough," he whispered in her ear, deliberately breathing down her neck. He felt her reaction as he held her up, and then let her go quickly. She turned and looked at him. He saw the shock in her eyes and pushed his advantage of knowing about her when she didn't know about him. He knew from her files that she rarely backed down, unless it was a direct order such as earlier today.

"Is that it?" he provoked her.

They kept going, and he kept winning. She was breathless each time he had hold of her, and he could feel her as she weakened. He knew she was feeling the same heat as he was, she just wasn't able to control it as well.

He pinned her down on the mat, holding himself above her but with enough pressure to keep her still. He saw the pounding of her heart in the pulse on her neck and kept a smile to himself about that.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Come now Erin Walker, I heard you were better than this." He felt his body react to her scent, her closeness and forced his expression to remain neutral as he pulled back to look at her face.

Erin's eyes were wide and she looked more than just shocked. She looked distressed. She pushed against him and he rolled off, wondering what was wrong. She ran from the room.

He followed. Erin went to the lockers and had just closed the shower door when he arrived. He sat and waited, thinking about this woman who had surprised him with what she made him feel, such a strong and instant attraction was rare for him. It was one thing for him to find a woman attractive, a completely different matter to have it affect him like she had. He noted the lack of steam coming out of the shower and smiled as he came to a logical conclusion as to why.

He heard Erin unlock the cubicle and watched as she walked out. She took two steps before she froze as she saw him sitting there on the bench. He stood up and started walking towards her slowly. She only had a towel around her and he couldn't resist the smile that formed on his face as he thought about how easy it would be to remove. Erin stepped back, backing herself against the wall rather than the retreat of the shower, which he was sure she was looking smile increased and he moved close to her. He noticed her breathing was very shallow and put one hand against the wall on one side of her head and bent down slowly to whisper in her other ear, making sure he didn't touch her anywhere, no matter how tempting it was.

"Same time tomorrow, you need the practice," he whispered and then walked away.

.

"Callen, take a seat," Taylor invited as he stepped into his boss' office. "Erin should be hear soon."

He sat, but didn't mention that he thought Erin might be little late.

"So how did you go with her?" Taylor asked.

He looked at his boss and keeping his tone innocent, considering the feelings that had been running through him since he'd first touched her, he answered, "She's good. she could be better though."

"What? You won?" Taylor asked.

"Let's just say she wasn't on her game today," he replied, inwardly smiling at the encounter. He had enjoyed it, he hadn't expected to feel like he did about his new partner. That was going to make it interesting working with her, but since she was the one he wanted, he'd work it out.

"She know who you are yet?"

"Nope," he replied and saw Taylor smile.

"You're late," Taylor said as he called Erin after about five minutes.

He heard her voice through the phone but he couldn't make out what she was saying.

"She's on her way," Taylor said after hanging up.

Erin walked through the door, closed it and turned around. He watched her carefully, noting the wet hair. She froze when she saw him and then looked at her boss, eyes wide.

"Erin Walker, meet your new partner, G. Callen," Taylor said.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N - Some answers now on what she was doing and who she is to Callen. Sorry, this one is pretty heavy on the dialogue._

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

**Chapter 5**

"What about Kristen?" Sam asked next.

"Kristen came before Erin. When I went back, it was tempting. It was good with Kristin, but nothing like with Erin. She hadn't wanted me to wait. We didn't know how long it would be or if she would even make it out," Callen said, remembering Erin's request. He'd tried. He'd looked but no one fitted like she did. With Kristin, he'd been someone else, Jason. With Erin, he was himself. He'd discovered that made a big difference.

"So what happened then?" Sam asked.

"We were together for a year, before she went undercover for Wildfire," Callen said.

"What was Wildfire?" Sam asked. Callen looked at him, wondering how much he should tell him. "Cleared, remember," Sam prompted at his silence.

"Erin showed a great deal of promise through her training so they had continued teaching her different forms of assassination."

Sam raised his eyebrows, a slightly disbelieving look on his face. "So she really is a trained Assassin?"

"Yes," Callen nodded. "Everyone else had them. The CIA wasn't about to miss out. She was rarely used for that though, only when there was no other choice. Even without that talent, she's an extremely capable agent, an excellent marksman and great fighter, with a sharp mind, and can become almost anyone."

He'd been right, they had been good together, adapting to each other and, even with the fire, they'd found away to work together and work together well.

"She sounds like you, aside from the sharp mind bit," Sam teased. "Anything she not good at?"

Callen grinned back before replying.

"She can't stand failure and she hates to drive. She's generally worse at getting paperwork in on time than you, me and Kensi combined. Taylor, our boss, used to have to threaten her with losing privileges to get her to finish it off." Callen smiled to himself as he remembered how things had changed once they got together. Taylor hadn't had to threaten anymore. He'd taken over that responsibility and one look from him and Erin knew what she would miss out on if she didn't get it done.

"Anything else?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. If it can't be eaten straight out of the fridge, freezer or cupboard, don't let her touch it. She's hopeless in the kitchen with anything requiring cooking," Callen replied. He'd only had to watch her one night trying to cook, before he had taken over cooking for them. It had surprised him considering how capable she was at most other things.

When Sam didn't ask anymore about Erin, Callen returned the topic back to Wildfire.

"Hampton had a thing for pretty brunettes. Not for any other reason than to look at them. They weren't his type." Callen wasn't sure if he would have been able to let her go if he thought that Hampton would have been touching her in that way.

"When we heard that there was an opening for his personal 'assistant', it was an opportunity that we couldn't turn down. CIA had been hunting him for almost seventeen years and there had already been too many murders, we just couldn't get anything on him to pin him down. Erin fitted the profile. She fulfilled the special requirements. She was the only one available who did," Callen said.

"You sent her in?" Sam asked, not sure he would have been able to do it if it had been someone he loved.

"It wasn't easy Sam. She had to make the choice, not me." He come close to begging her not to go. He took a breath and continued with the story. "We didn't send her in as such. She was given a new personality, literally. There were psychiatrists that worked with her, they gave her a new identity, Tanya. It involved putting Erin's to sleep first," Callen replied, remembering how hard it had been to step back and let her go.

Sam raised his eyebrows, a curious and slightly disbelieving look on his face. "Can they do that? Thought that was just in the movies," Sam asked.

"Sometimes the ideas in the movies are more based on truth than anyone will admit," Callen answered before continuing. "When her personality eventually 'woke up', she would know everything that had happened, but wouldn't feel any of it. It would just be like a movie where she knew every little detail. They promised that if she got compromised, she'd be out in twenty four hours."

It was that promise that had helped her decide to do it. Knowing that if anything happened, she'd only have to make it for a day.

"Tanya was a cold hearted, emotionless assassin," Callen continued. "Erin wasn't. She wasn't supposed to have had to do the job as herself. They planted a chip in her that allowed them to monitor her movements, but nothing else. One of the few things we knew was that Hampton kept his personal assistant close to him at all times other than when there was a job to be done. The chip was a prototype, so pretty much undetectable unless you knew exactly what to look for," Callen finished.

"So what happened two months ago?" Sam asked.

Callen shook his head and frowned. He'd been wondering the same thing since she said those words to him.

"No idea. Her personality shouldn't have been triggered. Doctor Briar and I were the only ones whose voices could do it. The trigger was Doctor Briar's daughter's name, something unconnected with Erin. We were the ones programmed in to be safe. 'Tanya' couldn't hurt either of us, which would give us the opportunity to get close enough to say it. She was supposed to faint, then we could have her out of there before she woke up," Callen replied, wondering how she must have felt waking up to not find them there with her.

"Which is why you wanted to be the one to get her, not us," Sam said, finally understanding the change of plans that Callen had made earlier today.

"Yeah. I was telling the truth Sam. She would've taken out you and Kensi if you'd gone after her, she is that good," Callen replied. Then he frowned. "Perhaps not though, since she was herself by then."

"Why the name Wildfire?" Sam asked.

"We were handing over a talented emotionless assassin to a terrorist. We had no real idea of what he would use her for or how long it would be before we could stop the mission. A bit like a wildfire, you don't know where it will go next and you don't know when you'll be able to stop it," Callen replied, not mentioning that it had also had to do with the fire between the two of them. Their own personal touch to the mission.

"Is she going to be in any trouble from what she had to do?"

"No," Callen responded. "She has immunity for anything she had to do whilst on the mission." That was another part of the deal.

"Okay, so Walker? Callen?" Sam asked, moving from the mission to the more personal topic. "Figure she's not a long lost sister or cousin, considering the chemistry between the two of you," Sam added with grin.

Callen smiled softly. "Definitely not sister or cousin."

"That would leave freaky coincidence or wife," Sam said.

Callen saw Erin approaching with Doctor Briar

"Not exactly, but close. Wife in every way..." Callen started to say, whilst watching her.

"Except official," Erin finished as she arrived next to them. Doctor Briar leaving after giving her a reassuring smile.

"It was a name we used just between the two of us," Callen said, watching her carefully and wondering how things went with the doctor. She seemed calmer which was good.

"So did you propose or anything?" Sam asked them.

"Not exactly," Callen said, his arms moving unconsciously to reach for her as she got within range. She stepped into them willingly and they closed around her.

"He was trying to get my attention the first time he called me that," Erin added, smiling at Callen.

"Did it work?" Sam asked.

"Very much. Left her speechless. Not something that happens often," Callen said with a grin to his partner.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

_Flashback to 3 months into their relationship._

"What is it, Erin?" Callen asked as he walked into their apartment and saw her pacing.

"What are you doing here?" Erin spun around and looked at him in surprise only briefly pausing in her efforts to leave a trail on the carpet.

Callen frowned. "I live here."

"Sorry, I thought you would still be at work." Erin continued to pace. That in itself was screaming at Callen that something wasn't right. She never paced.

Callen walked over to her. "Erin," he said firmly, hoping she would stop. He didn't remember seeing her this rattled before.

"What?"

"Stop," Callen ordered, but she turned and walked the other way.

"I can't," Erin replied.

"Why not?" Callen asked, waiting where he was. She'd be back soon.

"Because I... I think I might be pregnant. I'm waiting for the test," Erin said, still not stopping.

"How?" Callen asked. They'd always been careful. They weren't ready for kids, neither of them knew if they would ever be ready, given the risks with their line of work. She looked at him with a cheeky grin, pausing her pacing for just a few moments.

"Well Callen, if you don't know how, what the hell have we been doing these last few months?" Erin teased, sounding a little less nervous as she did.

"That's not what I meant." Callen walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her before she could build up too much momentum again.

"I don't know, I'm late but...it could just be stress. It's happened before, but this has never been a possibility and I started wondering and needed to find out," Erin explained.

"How long?" Callen asked.

"A couple of minutes," Erin said, thinking he meant the test.

Callen shook his head. "I mean how late?"

"Three weeks," Erin replied quietly, not looking at him.

"Callen, I don't know if I can do this. What kind of life is this? We're rarely home, we've only been together a short time. God! I don't even know what to do with a kid," Erin continued, as she pulled away and started pacing again.

"Erin," Callen said, wanting her to stop so he could reassure her everything would be okay.

"I mean I've never been around them, we've got no family to help us. Who knows who would be after them, if they found out." Erin turned around and headed back toward him.

"Erin," Callen said trying to get her attention but she continued as if he hadn't spoken at all.

"We haven't really even talked about it, so much would change, I ..."

"Erin Elizabeth Callen," he said firmly to get her attention, slightly shocked by what he had actually ended up saying. He'd meant to say Walker but Callen had slipped out instead. But it felt right. He smiled as she stopped and looked at him, stunned into silence. At least he had her attention and she wasn't talking anymore.

"What?" she whispered.

"Erin Elizabeth Callen, I love you and we'll work it out," Callen said, liking the sound of the name even more second time round. She continued to stare at him, still not saying anything.

"Don't like the sound of it?" Callen asked, moving close to her.

"Like it? Of course I do, but..." Erin stopped, he was so close she had trouble keeping her focus.

"But what?" Callen said, slipping his arms around her. Now he had two ways to stop her talking.

"We can't..." Erin said breathless as he kissed her neck.

"We can use it here," Callen said, knowing what she meant. If the two of them were married, it would be risky for their jobs and lives. A personal paper trail wouldn't be good, which is why even though he lived here with her, he had another address listed on his paperwork. One day maybe, things would be different, but with how active they were in the field at the moment, that day wasn't here yet.

"Just between us huh?" Erin asked as she found some control and kissed him back.

"Yep, just between us," Callen agreed.

"You know what, Callen?" Erin's fingers slipped under his shirt.

"What?" Callen asked, knowing where this was heading but curious about what she was going to say.

"There is a little too much between us right now," Erin whispered against his lips and kissed him passionately.

They had to redo the test.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

**Chapter 6**

"Earth to G," Sam said, pulling them back from their memory.

"Sorry, Sam." Callen pulled his eyes away from Erin.

"The name?" Sam prompted, wanting more.

Erin smiled at him. "I thought I was pregnant. I was freaking out."

"Not something I was used to seeing her doing," Callen interrupted.

Sam frowned, "You two had a kid?"

Erin shook her head. "No, it was a false alarm."

"We'd had a really rough four or five weeks with some pretty big missions. We'd only been together a few months. Just a bit stressful with everything."

"I wouldn't stop pacing, just could get my mind off how everything would change. When he called me that, everything else just stopped, and it was just the two of us."

Sam raised his eyebrows suggestively and smiled when Erin blushed.

"So you like him?" Sam asked Erin.

Erin smiled up at Callen then looked back to Sam as she answered his question. "Like is one way to put it. Love would be much, much more accurate," Erin said, returning Sam's smile.

"When did it happen?" Sam asked.

"It was there at the very beginning, just took a bit of time for her to admit it," Callen said smiling at her as his arms tightened around her before she could give him a gentle slap for his comment. He wasn't about to let her go yet. He had a lot of catching up to do.

"You can't talk," Erin retorted affectionately. "Took you just as long," she added and grinned at him.

"Knew before you." Callen ran his fingers through her hair gently, now that the threat of the slap had passed.

Erin closed her eyes at his touch, something she had missed so much. "Yeah, when?"

"By the second weekend," Callen replied. Erin leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder, as she closed her eyes briefly, as they both remembered what had happened those first couple of weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

_Flashback - first couple of weeks._

A week was all Erin could last, a week of sparing similar to the first day, only even more intense and charged. A week of glances and touches from Callen, all innocent in appearance to anyone else, but she knew that he knew exactly what he was doing to her. Erin went home early on Friday, she couldn't take it anymore. She had a glass of wine and decided that there was no way they could work together. You couldn't, not with that kind of spark. The slightest touch would send her mind spinning. It was too dangerous. She'd have to talk to Taylor on Monday.

There was a knock on the door. Erin got up and opened it, to have Callen walk straight in. She didn't even have a chance to say anything before he turned around, closed and locked the door and then kissed her. He picked her up, took her to the bedroom and it was a long time before either of them spoke.

"Thought we should get that out of the way so we can work together," Callen said, fingers running up her arms lightly, smiling as he felt her shiver.

"You still want to work with me?" Erin asked, pushing herself up to look at his face, remembering that she had decided she couldn't.

"I think we can be good together. Derek says you are very good at what you do." A look came into his eyes, "I'd have to agree so far." Erin's eyes went wide at what he was implying.

"Derek and I never-" Erin started.

"I know," Callen replied.

"How?"

"He told me," Callen said, smiling a wicked smile.

Erin's eyes narrowed. "What else did he tell you?" she asked hoping Derek hadn't told him everything. Derek knew just about everything about her; they'd been partners for five years.

"That's for me to know," Callen answered and watched as her eyes narrowed further. He wondered what it was that she hadn't wanted Derek to tell him.

"What? You think he won't tell me?" She'd make sure he did. Derek could only go so fast on crutches.

"I'd rather you see if you can get it out of me," Callen tempted her.

"You want me to interrogate you?" Erin asked, her mind already working on ways to make him talk, a smile coming to her lips.

"Well, it would help me get to know what you are capable of, since we'll be working together," Callen said, watching her eyes and seeing that she was tempted and wondered just what she would do.

Erin closed her eyes, when she saw him watching her so intently and took a deep breath.

"What is it?" Callen asked, concerned.

"I can't do this." Erin shook her head as she responded. "I haven't lost a partner on the job. I won't start now," she added softly.

"What makes you think you will?"

Erin opened her eyes and looked at him. Considering what had just happened between the two of them, it wasn't like what she was about to say would be shocking. He probably knew anyway. So she told him the truth.

"It's too dangerous. One touch from you and I'm on fire. I can't think of anything else, I can't focus on anything other than you," Erin said, holding his gaze so he didn't think she was completely weak.

"Then perhaps we had better do something about that," Callen suggested, that wicked smile returning and almost taking her breath away with just the look.

"What?" Erin asked, not sure whether she was nervous or something else at the look in his eyes.

"De-sensitize you." Callen flipped her over, moving above her.

"How?" Erin asked, her voice barely a whisper, as she had a feeling where this might be going and couldn't believe how easily he had started the fire in her again.

"The more time you spend with something, the less you notice it," Callen whispered in her ear.

"I don't think that will work," Erin replied, closing her eyes as his lips made their way down her neck.

"Let's try," Callen said as he kissed her right where her pulse was pounding.

"Why?" Erin asked. Callen stopped and looked in her eyes.

"Because, Erin Walker, I really want to work with you," Callen said, seriously.

.

The next week was similar to the first. Erin had a reprieve with the sparing when Callen brought in other agents to see how she handled herself. Callen would step up with her occasionally, but the effect he had on her was always the same. It was frustrating for her to find herself so weak.

Callen was in two minds whether that was a good thing. He liked knowing she was so affected by him and wanted him just as much as he wanted her, but he also wanted her to be able to work with him. Which was part of the reason why he didn't find himself at her place during the week. He wanted to see if time would help. By Friday though, when nothing had changed, Callen figured he had more work to do with her so that they could. Erin had some reports to finish and by the time she got home she found him patiently waiting for her at her door.

"You're late," Callen said when she arrived well over an hour late.

"For what?" Erin asked, unlocking her door, stomach full of butterflies remembering the last time he had been here.

"We have work to do," Callen said, wondering if she'd actually been out with someone. He relaxed when he remembered Taylor had told her she had reports due by the end of the day.

Erin frowned at him in confusion. No they didn't.

"It's the weekend, Callen. Work is over," Erin replied as she walked through the door. Callen followed and closed the door behind him.

Erin put down her bag and keys and then her breath caught as she felt his arms slip around her and pull her back against him. She felt his breath on her neck as Callen whispered in her ear, "Overtime," and his hands started undoing the buttons on her shirt. Her head dropped back against his shoulder, she couldn't help it. It was like the first time all over again. Callen chuckled as he kissed his way down her neck. She did nothing to stop him, but he heard her breathing getting heavy, felt her pulse race under his lips.

I'm stronger than this, part of her mind screamed at her, the other part telling her to just shut up and enjoy. Erin felt his fingers push her shirt back off her shoulders and run them gently over the now bare skin.

Callen knew sometime he should tell her that he was feeling as she was, burning at the slightest touch, but he just had more control of it.

Why is he so in control? How come he isn't losing it like this? It wasn't fair. Erin eyes opened and they narrowed in concentration, though he didn't see it. Something had shifted in her and she spun him around against the door, trapping his hands. Erin held his gaze, focused desperately on what she needed to do rather than wanted to do, and asked, "Why? Why are you doing this to me?"

"Better." Callen smiled, liking that she was able to gain some control. "And I'm not doing anything to you," he added, which was technically true at that point.

Erin stepped back away from him, and pointed to the couch. "Sit!" she ordered.

Callen took a step toward her and she stepped further back from him, not trusting herself. Good, Callen thought, this might work after all.

"Sit, on your own," Erin said. "Don't move until I tell you you can."

Callen raised his eyebrows at her and smiled. "Yes Ma'am," and did as he was told.

Erin turned to look at him once he was sitting.

"Why?" Erin asked, not caring about how desperate she sounded for an answer.

"Why what?" Callen asked.

"Why are you doing this? Why do you want to work with me?" Erin asked, confused, nervous and desperate to understand what was happening to her. She'd never been affected by a man this way.

Callen could tell she was serious. He focused on her second question.

"Because you are very good at what you do. I've read your files, I've talked to people. You have amazing references and you can become anyone. I need a partner like that, who can work with me," Callen answered. There were some missions that needed the combination of talents that the two of them had, so Derek was now on his hardest undercover mission. Lying to her. He hadn't actually been injured, but he had been moved to the desk job as part of the cover. He hadn't minded too much, because it meant being able to marry his girlfriend and know she would be safe. He'd apparently been wanting to for a while, but didn't want to let Erin down. Since Erin and Derek had such a brilliant track record, there wasn't a reason to split them up so they'd had to come up with another way, hoping to avoid any resentment that would have come from forcing it. Though Derek was terrified by what Erin would do to him if she found out. Now, all Callen had to do was convince Erin to take him.

"But I can't do that with you," Erin denied.

"I think you can," Callen replied. They just needed time to work this out.

"Why?" Erin asked again.

"Because sometimes the job is more important than what you feel and you know that," Callen replied. He knew that some of the things Erin had had to do during her career had been difficult, but she had known the reason behind it and accepted that it had to be done, even if she didn't like it.

"How do I stop this?" Erin asked, wanting to know how she could be around him without feeling this fire. He knew they needed to work it, find a way to cool the flames or at least find a way to work around it.

"That's something we need to figure out. Erin, I don't want to work with anyone else. We'll find a way," Callen said seriously. He'd hand picked her and he wasn't going to give up.

Erin stood there for a moment, not really knowing what to do next. Callen gave up waiting and got up, moving toward her. She saw the wicked smile flash across his face as he got closer, and she knew she was in trouble.

"Callen," Erin said, warning him off as she stepped back slightly, a token protest really as she was already feeling the heat inside start to burn.

"Erin," Callen replied.

"I... " his lips cut off her words and the fire in her burned out of control and she couldn't do anything about it. She didn't want to. The fire burned in him as well, almost uncontrolled. If he hadn't wanted to make sure she enjoyed herself just as much as he, he wouldn't have been able to think.

.

The next thing Erin said to him was, "You weren't supposed to move."

"I didn't hear you complaining. In fact, I would say you enjoyed it," Callen responded knowingly.

"Wasn't complaining, but really Callen, you don't take orders well," Erin said, silently agreeing with his comment. She had enjoyed everything.

Callen gently ran his fingers over her arm and shoulder. "I can take orders just fine. If you hadn't wanted me to move, you shouldn't be so tempting and should have put your shirt back on."

"So, now this is all because of me not having a shirt on?" Erin asked, wondering if she could use that excuse sometime.

"Yep," Callen replied.

"Must remember that," Erin said.

Callen looked down at her and decided now was the time.

"You're not the only one who feels the fire," he confessed, looking at her face to watch her reaction, whilst wishing he had been able to tell her that he loved her, but he felt it was too soon. HE was worried she'd think he was just saying it to stay in her bed. He wouldn't have been. There was so much more to this than just physical, though that side of things was extremely strong at present. He'd have to find a way to make sure he showed the rest as well.

Erin smiled, relieved that she wasn't the only one. She flipped him so she was on top. She saw the desire flash across his face and smiled a wicked smile of her own.

"Good. Now I need to eat," Erin said as she pulled away quickly from him, before she lost the small amount of control she had left, wrapped the sheet around her and walked out of the bedroom.


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

**Chapter 7**

Callen kissed the top of her head and Erin looked up at him, a gentle smile on her face. She'd missed him so much. Those eyes, that smile, the heat that both could bring about. Most of all, she'd missed the security and love that he gave her, especially after these last two months.

"What about you?" Callen asked her.

"When I was sick," Erin admitted.

"Just before I told you." Callen grinned. "See, I did know sooner."

Erin shook her head slight at his gentle know-it-all tone. It made her smile. She was so glad to back here with him. To be back home.

"Is that why you moved in with me without my knowledge?" she asked. He'd checked out of the hotel whilst she'd been sick and had moved in with her and hadn't left. Not that she'd ever asked him to.

Callen shrugged. "Didn't seem much point in having a hotel room when I was planning on spending more time with you."

"Wait," Sam interrupted. "You moved in without telling her?" Sam was still trying to understand what was going on with these two. It was a little difficult. Callen actually in love, not to mention the whole first sight issue. Now he finds out this. His head was spinning a little trying to put things straight.

"The third week we were together, we were out in the field. I got into a fight which, unusually for me, I didn't win. The guy cut my arm with a knife, and got away from me. Callen took him down before he could go anywhere. I got in trouble for being so stupid." Erin looked at Callen with a slight roll of her eyes at what she remembered to be his over-reaction.

Callen recollected how scared he had been when he saw that she was on the ground and the guy was running with a bloody knife. "He hurt you. What did you expect? I was scared."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

_Flashback - knife incident_

"That's him," Callen said not taking his eyes off the target. "Black shirt, blue pants."

"Shall we?" Erin hoped to be out of the car soon, there was only so much enclosed space she could handle with this man next to her.

"Let's do it." Callen said.

They slipped out of the car and walked toward him, Callen slipping his arm around her and pretending to whisper in her ear. They looked like any one of the other couples walking along the path. She had a hard time focusing for a moment when his breath went past her ear, but she was getting better at working alongside of him. As they moved closer, their target turned around and looked straight at them. It was like he knew, then he ran. They followed quickly and managed to get him trapped in an alley with no exit. Erin was the first to get to him, being slightly quicker on her feet, so Callen stayed back in case he got away. Erin shouldn't have had any trouble with him. Then Callen saw her collapse, the target turn and run at him, holding a knife which had blood on it. "NO!" Callen's mind screamed, just before he landed a blow on the target that had him collapsing in a heap, unconscious. Callen handcuffed him and then hurried to Erin.

"Damn, that hurts," Erin remarked as she stood up, looking at her arm. Callen was furious with her.

"How did you miss that he had a knife?" Callen demanded, not wanting to admit that he was scared.

"I don't know. How did you miss he had one?" Erin threw back at him, confused by his response. This wasn't the reaction she was expecting.

"Erin, he could've killed you," Callen said, less fury in his tone.

"He didn't and injuries happen, Callen. Surely you're used to that by now." Erin's tone and response softening as she saw his reaction was based on concern not because of a failure on her part. She'd been taken by surprise yes, but the knife had been well hidden.

"Not with you, I'm not," Callen admitted as he pulled her into his arms and breathed in the scent from her hair, reassuring himself that she was okay. He pulled back quickly to look at her arm.

"It's not bad, I'll be able to patch it myself," Erin said, as she looked again.

"Like hell. You'll get the doctor to check it out and fix it," Callen ordered.

"Yes Sir," Erin shot back at him, eyebrows raised. She'd patched herself up before and she knew he knew that, since he had read everything in her file, included the parts that had mentioned that she had pretty decent first aid skills.

"Erin," Callen started. Erin shook her head at him

"Callen, stop. I've been hurt before, I'll be hurt again. You can't stop it unless you want me to quit."

"No," Callen replied, slightly reluctantly. The idea was very tempting.

"Good," Erin replied. She looked over at their target and added, "Let's go get him before he wakes up."

.

Erin went home early that day after she'd been checked over by the doctor. She was feeling tired and once the paperwork was done, she went to Taylor and asked to go home. He'd agreed and she went home, straight to bed.

"Erin!" Callen called loudly, shaking her forcefully. Erin opened her eyes but she couldn't focus on him.

"Callen?" Erin answered weakly. "I don't feel so good."

Callen put his hand on her head and almost pulled away at the heat he felt there. Fear settled on him like a lead weight. She'd been perfectly fine this morning when she'd arrived at work.

"You're burning up. Come on. Up. We need to cool you down," Callen urged. It had taken him a few minutes to get her to respond. He'd been worried about her whilst he was still at the office and tried calling. When she hadn't answered, he'd picked up her spare keys that she kept at the office, making a mental note to get himself a set, just in case, and walked out of the office and driven straight to her apartment.

Callen pulled her up out of bed and took her to the bathroom. Stepping with her into the shower, he turned the cold water.

"You really think getting me in the shower is going to cool me down?" she asked, her voice weak whilst her mind went away from the pain and fever to the heat she could feel that was just for him. She loved him, she knew she did. She just wished she could tell him, but she didn't know if he felt anything more than just this heat and fire that always seemed to be between them.

"Erin, behave," Callen reprimanded gently. "You have a fever."

"From what?" Erin frowned, her mind not able to focus or remember being sick.

"From the knife." Callen took off her bandage and saw the cut was already infected. This was too quick, there must have been something on it that they had missed.

Callen switched off the shower. "We need to get you to the hospital. Help me get you changed."

"Can get me out of the clothes but not back into them, huh?" Erin replied sluggishly, as she almost fell against him.

"Erin?" Callen frowned.

"Callen, I..." She fainted.

.

When Erin woke up, she was in the hospital. She felt cooler, less sick. She glanced around and saw Callen sitting next to her and frowned.

"Callen?" Erin called quietly. His eyes were closed and if he was asleep, she didn't want to wake him.

Callen eyes flew open and he smiled at her, one filled with relief.

"What happened?" Erin asked as he got up and moved over to her side.

"The knife. You got an infection," Callen answered, relieved that she was finally awake.

"How long have I been here for?" Erin asked, blinking rapidly as she tried to keep her eyes open.

"Thirty six hours," Callen replied.

Erin frowned. She was sure he was still in the same clothes he'd been in last time she saw him and he looked so tired.

"How long have you been here for?" Erin asked.

"Thirty six hours," he repeated. No way was he leaving.

Her heart sang that he had stayed, that maybe this was more than just physical between them.

"You should go home, get some sleep," Erin said softly.

"No, I should get the doctor. See if I can take you home," Callen corrected.

"What?" Erin asked, confused. Maybe she was just dreaming.

"I hear you hate hospitals, so the Director has cleared it with the doctors that when you wake up, assuming that it is safe, you get to go home," Callen said, smiling before he added the last part, "as long as I go with you for the next three days."

"Three days?" Erin repeated. It was true, she did hate hospitals, she had too many bad memories of them.

"Yep. Three days at home with me. Or three days in here. Which is it to be, Agent Walker?" Callen asked, leaning in close to her.

"What kind of choice is that to give a girl?" Erin asked, her heart starting to race as he got closer. She heard the monitors reflect that and tried to calm down. She saw him smile as he made the connection. Still, he came closer.

"Hopefully an easy one," Callen whispered.

"Easiest one I've ever had to make," she whispered back, just before he kissed her gently.

.

"So you, bed. I'll get you something to eat," Callen ordered as they walked through the door to her apartment.

"Bossy, aren't you?" It might have sounded like a protest but Erin knew she would do it anyway. She'd felt weaker the moment he'd let go of her to unlock the door. Odd since it was usually the other way around. She put a hand against the wall to steady herself, just as he turned to look at her after closing and locking the door behind them. The next thing she knew she was being picked up and carried through to the bedroom.

"As much I as I want to, I'm probably not up for much right now," Erin teased smiling at him. He looked at her, fighting between a frown and a smile.

"Behave," he said, but even knowing how sick she still was, he'd still felt the fire start to burn.


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

**Chapter 8**

"Agent Walker," Hetty interrupted, as she arrived with Agent Simpson. Erin stiffened at the sight of the other agent and Callen tightened his hold on her slightly as Hetty continued. "I have something that I think you might like to hear."

Erin looked at Hetty, confused.

"What is it, Hetty?" Callen asked.

"News of the Wildfire assault on Garik Hampton's camps and connections. 90% of his army are already in custody, the remaining 10% are being tracked and should be in custody by the end of the day tomorrow. All assets have been frozen and property seized," Hetty reported.

"Already?" Erin asked, stunned that they had been able to do so much so quickly.

"That's why we had to leave you in, we needed time to plan," Simpson said.

"Agent Simpson, please refrain from speaking," ordered Hetty as she saw both Callen and Erin's reaction to his voice.

"Agent Simpson is leaving," Hetty continued. "I will continue the debrief with you Agent Walker, when you are ready."

"Goodbye Agent Walker," said Simpson.

Erin glared at him, holding on to Callen, knowing that his touch held more power over her than anything. The temptation to hurt Simpson after what he had done to her was still great. She heard Callen's phone ring.

"Goodbye Agent Simpson. I hope _never_ to see or hear from you again," Erin said as she felt Callen freeze. She looked at him and frowned.

"Thanks Eric," Callen said, putting down his phone and then he looked at her, seriously.

"Go to Sam, Erin," Callen ordered gently pushing her in Sam's direction. She did as he asked, even though she had no idea why. There was something in his voice she couldn't quite place. Sam frowned and Erin noticed he was alert and tense, ready for anything, as he stepped closer to her.

Callen turned around.

"Simpson, before you go," Callen called out as he walked toward the agent. Simpson turned around to face Callen.

"Yes Agent Callen," Simpson said, just a second before Callen's fist connected with his jaw and he fell to the floor.

"Callen!" Erin cried, stepping toward him as Sam reached for her, holding her back.

"No Sam, let me go," Erin begged as she saw Callen reach down and pull Simpson to his feet. She'd made the connection with the tone in his voice and actions now. If they didn't stop him, he was most likely going to kill Simpson. She didn't know why yet, just that she had to get to him and stop him.

"Mr Callen," said Hetty firmly, making Callen stop as he was pulling back for another go.

"Hetty," Callen growled. Erin heard the fury in his voice and she tried to pull away from Sam again.

"Mr Callen," Hetty repeated firmly. Erin saw the change in Callen and knew he would stop. Se marveled at the way Hetty had managed it. She was so sure they would have to pull him off.

Callen spun Simpson around and handcuffed him, before turning to Sam.

"Sam, swap. Don't let him move," Callen said. Sam released her and moved toward Simpson. Callen moved quickly back to Erin once Sam was there. Simpson started to move, but Sam had a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't even think about it," before Simpson had managed to take one step.

"Callen?" Erin asked, frowning. Callen looked at her and she saw sorrow and pain in his eyes.

"It was him. He gave Hampton the recording of the trigger I'd made. We'd made them just in case neither Briar or I were alive to bring you out," Callen said as he moved to put his arms around her.

"What?" Erin asked, disbelief and confusion in her words as she looked between Simpson and Callen.

"I didn't do anything," Simpson protested, but it was weak. Erin looked at Simpson and felt sick as she wondered how could he have done that deliberately.

"Eric has proof. He has the email you sent to Hampton. You set her up, Simpson. You knew what he would do to her. Sam, get him out of here," Callen said, looking back at Erin.

"Why?" Erin whispered at Simpson. If Garik knew who she was all that time, why was she still alive? Simpson's expression turned cruel.

"You must be very good at your job, Agent Walker. Hampton didn't believe me. Yes, you fainted, but nothing changed. He said I was wrong, that I'd lied. But I didn't. After all, you had already called me to let me know. So how did it feel, Walker? To get to be such a cold, heartless..." Simpson got cut off as Sam covered his mouth.

"I wouldn't go there," advised Sam, having noticed that Callen looked ready to murder Simpson. "Let's go," added Sam, pushing Simpson to get him to move. Erin looked back at Callen, tears in her eyes.

"I..." Erin started but stopped as she had no idea what she was going to say.

"It's over Erin," Callen comforted her, relieved that Sam had taken Simpson out of his sight. Now he could focus on her.

"Hetty, can we do this tomorrow?" Callen asked, looking at Hetty.

"Of course, Mr Callen," Hetty replied.

"Let's go. I do believe the lady has a ritual to perform," Callen said picking up his jacket and keys whilst continuing to look at Erin with a smile. He saw the look in her eyes and knew she remembered the last time he'd said that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

_Flashback.- Right before the Wildfire Mission started._

"Two hours huh?" Callen asked, closing the door as Doctor Briar left them alone in his office. He turned to face her.

"Two hours," Erin repeated, watching him closely and feeling her body start to heat at the look in his eyes.

"I do believe the lady has a ritual to perform," Called said as he got closer.

"I guess I do," Erin whispered, tears in her eyes, knowing this could be the last time.

"Better get started," Callen said as he started to unbutton her shirt.

"Perhaps you should lock the door then," Erin replied as she started to do the same to him.

"Already have," Callen replied.

"Prepared aren't you?" Erin asked, sliding his shirt off.

"I'm no boy scout, but I know an opportunity when I see one," Callen said as he pushed the shirt off her shoulders and kissed her neck between words.

"Shut up, Callen. There are more important things your mouth should be doing right now," Erin said, breathlessly.

.

"Are you sure you want to do this? It's not too late to back out," Callen asked her later. They were curled up under a blanket on the couch. The psychiatrist's office would never be the same to her now.

"I have to. We've never had an opportunity like this, it might never happen again. 150 dead and counting. I can't back out," Erin said, wishing she wasn't speaking the truth.

"You can," Callen said, part of him wanting to beg her not to do this.

"There is no one else Callen, you know that. I fit the profile, I have the ability," Erin replied. "Remember, sometimes the job is more important than what you feel."

"But..." Callen started, part of him wishing he'd never said that to her.

"Please, this is hard enough," Erin whispered and he heard the pain in her voice at the choice she'd had to make.

"I'm sorry," Callen said, as the alarm went off that told them it was time to go. They got up and got dressed, and walked slowly to the lab.

"Don't wait for me, I don't know how long this will go for," Erin said, tears in her eyes. Callen kissed away the ones that managed to escape.

"Promise me you won't wait," Erin asked of him again when he didn't respond

"I can't. I can't see that far ahead," Callen said. "I love you, Erin Elizabeth Callen,"

"I.." she started to reply. Callen placed his fingers on her lips, stopping her.

"Not until you come back." Callen said. This too, was part of their ritual.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N - So last chapter, unless there are any suggestions that come through that cause the plot bunnies to do some overtime on this story, or if there is anything I've forgotten to clear up._

_Thanks for the support on this story. It was definitely appreciated and I hope all my readers have enjoyed it._

_If you don't know about Rachel - She's from my story "Lost and Found"  
_

_Disclaimer in Chapter 1_

**Chapter 9**

Callen opened the door to the hotel room and Erin stepped through the door. She paused in the middle of the room and looked around as she heard the door close and the lock click into place. A smile formed on her lips as she heard the music, saw the flower on the pillow and the bottle on wine on ice. She walked over and lifted up the bottle. Perfect. She knew what would be in the fridge; strawberries, ready to eat. The tears pricked at her eyes. He'd remembered. She turned to face Callen. He was right behind her by then. Erin put her arms around his neck and brushed her lips gently over his.

"Thank you," Erin whispered.

They'd had a ritual for when she came back from a mission. It had started about a month after she'd been sick from the knife attack. Erin had to go undercover on her own briefly, for the first time since they'd started working together and Callen was worried. It wasn't that she couldn't do the job, he knew she could. It was simply that he loved her. So they'd made a deal about what would happen after, something they would both look forward to. The ritual before the mission hadn't been planned but after Erin came back from the first one successfully, Callen had suggested that perhaps they should continue it. Neither of them minded at all.

Erin looked into his eyes and felt all the fire and desire she always had for him cause her heart start to race and her body start to heat. She moved her head closer, brushing his lips briefly at first and then firmer, as she pulled herself closer. He responded passionately and her mouth opened under his, no hesitation and it felt like coming home. The heat, the taste, the touch. It was also familiar, yet all so new at the same time. As the kiss continued, Erin pulled him back toward the bed, his fingers leaving a heated trail over her back as he traced her spine through her shirt.

"No," Callen said as he pulled back away from her, both of them groaning.

"Please," Erin begged.

"No," Callen shook his head, very reluctantly. "I've got you back after three years, not taking any risks. Shower, wine and strawberries, then bed. That's the way it goes," Callen said, trying to keep some distance between them.

"Fine, on one condition," Erin said, a mischievous smile on her face.

"What?" Callen asked, eyes narrowing at her.

"Shower. Join me," Erin requested, closing the distance between them again.

Callen smiled. She was cunning. That was a very difficult request for him to resist, always had been. "No," he replied.

"But..." Erin started but he silenced her with another quick but deep kiss.

"Because then we'll skip the wine," Callen said. "Go, I'll be waiting." He turned her toward the bathroom with a gentle push.

"But not the strawberries? Fine, but you better be here when I come out, Callen," Erin warned and waited for his answer.

"Always," Callen replied watching her smile before she turned around and went into the bathroom.

.

Callen turned the alarm off and rolled back towards her. She was still sleeping. He slipped the sheet off her back and then he ran his fingers slowly up her spine, following it with kisses.

"You do remember what that does to me right?" Erin asked, in a sleepy voice as she started to wake up. He used to do this to her on mornings when they didn't have to go to work.

"Haven't forgotten anything." Callen continued his progress, smiling against her skin as he went further up her back. Erin felt the fire increase as his breath whispered across her back. She used to think that this fire between them would burn out sometime, but it never had. She'd figured that the combination between the love, the attraction and the intenseness of their risky lives had something to do with it. That they wanted to make the most of the good things in life. She mentioned this to Callen once. He'd agreed.

"So you don't mind being late and explaining to your boss why?" Erin asked breathlessly. He'd reached the back of her neck by then.

"When it comes to Hetty, assume she knows." Callen he rolled her over.

"Everything?" Erin asked desire mixing with mischief in her eyes.

"Well, perhaps not the finer details," Callen said, smiling against the pulse point that was racing on her neck.

"You do know Callen, that there are times when you talk too much."

Callen stopped what he was doing and looked at her face. "You complaining?"

"No, not complaining. Just letting you know that sometimes there are better things to do with your mouth," Erin said, holding back a smile.

"Same can be said for yours." Callen watched as the smile broke through and then they both stopped talking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

Callen's phone went off with a text message. When he saw the time, he groaned. He'd bet it was Hetty telling him they were late.

He read the text and smiled, sending one back.

"Who was it?" Erin asked.

"Hetty," Callen replied, as he set the phone back down on the table. Erin sat up quickly looking a the clock.

"Oops," Erin said, "We're late, aren't we?"

"Not anymore. Hetty's not expecting us until twelve."

"Oh." Erin blushed. She put her head down on his chest and snuggled in, gently running her fingers over his scars. Callen felt her stiffen a little and he frowned, wondering what she was worrying about.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you," Erin said, looking up at him, eyes shining.

"Part of me is glad you weren't." Callen understood she was referring to the shooting. He knew it would have hurt her deeply seeing him like that.

They were quiet for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"Where do we go from here?" Erin asked, not really sure what was going to happen.

Callen smiled, he knew what she really wanted to know, at least what was the most important question she was trying not to ask outright.

"We as in us, or you?" Callen asked.

"Both," Erin admitted. She'd been a little nervous that, even though the fire still burned between them, things would be different. It had been three years for him but essentially only two months for her.

Callen gently tilted her face up so she was looking at his, "Us. Nothing has changed. I love you. As long as you feel the same, we are the same," he assured her. He saw the relief in her eyes and she leaned over and kissed him.

"Always," Erin replied. "So, what about me then? I don't really know where things stand, work-wise."

"Depends on what you want. You've got three years of pay and holiday owing, you could take some time off, relax, enjoy life," Callen suggested. Another idea came to mind.

"If you still want to work," he continued, "there's this team that needs a new member. I could put a word in with the boss, I'm sure he'd love to have you on his team."

"Yeah? Who is he? Not Michaels right?" Erin asked. She had no idea what had happened with Michaels but he was the one person she couldn't work with.

"Nope, heard he left the company a couple of years ago," Callen replied.

"So, where is this team and with who?" Erin asked, kind of interested in getting back to doing the good stuff, but not wanting to be away from him. This could get tricky.

"Here in L.A. With me." Her head flew up and she looked at him in shock at his response. She hadn't been expecting that.

"What?" Erin asked.

"We're down a team member. Remember, we work well together," Callen said, gently stroking her face. He wanted her with him again, work and other.

"You already have a partner," Erin said, slightly confused.

"But Kensi doesn't," Callen replied.

"Kensi, huh? You think she'd trust me?" Erin could still remember the look on the other agent's face from yesterday. It had been a very wary one, not a trusting one.

"She trusts me, so yeah, she'll trust you enough for now. Eventually work it out for herself. Plus, you two will work well. You don't like driving whilst she hates being a passenger." Callen chuckled softly then added, "Just don't go getting attached to the cars. Sometimes they don't too last long."

"You want me to work for you?" Erin asked him seriously.

"With me," Callen corrected, just as serious.

"You think you can pull that off?" Erin asked, her look brightening as the thought that she would be able to stay with him made her heart feel so light.

"I'm pretty sure I can get Hetty to pull it off," Callen assured her. "Plus, they owe you." The hell they had left her in, she deserved her choice of whatever she wanted to do now.

Erin looked at him, wondering if she could do this. Whether she could actually get back to work considering she was slightly out of practice. Aside from the last two months, technically she hadn't done any undercover work for three years.

"Of course you know how I hate paperwork, so maybe I could swing it for you to be my secretary," Callen said mischief in his eyes.

"Like that would work," Erin retorted, smiling. She hated paperwork more than he did.

"It did once," Callen said.

"We were undercover," Erin replied.

"Not all the time," Callen said wickedly and they both remembered the night that particular mission had ended.

They'd been undercover for a few weeks. She was posing as his secretary and he as a new partner at an accounting firm. They'd needed to get into the head partner's office and get files from his computer relating to a drug cartel's finances. It had taken a while. They'd finally managed to get in, whilst the office Christmas party was being held on the next floor down. Just as Callen had finished downloading the information, Jaz let them know that they had about a minute before the head partner and two security guards would be there and if they left the room, they'd be spotted. They'd known it was a risk as the office was very close to a lift. Callen had looked at her and asked, "Trust me?" She'd replied, "Of course," not sure what he was thinking. The next thing she knew he had her back on the couch, he'd whispered in her ear, "Let go," and kissed her. She couldn't even remember what he'd said to the boss when he'd walked in, but Callen hadn't moved and the boss had left saying, "Two minutes." They'd walked out two minutes later, the boss winking at Callen. Callen had discovered that the boss had a thing for his secretary, having walked in on them once and so he'd taken the risk that the boss would understand, especially since it was the only office that was private.

They'd expected a reprimand when they got back to the office, for letting it get too personal on a mission, but no one said anything except well done, which confused them until they caught Jaz winking at them. They found out later that she'd managed to slip a small, two second delay in the live feed from their audio and she'd filtered out things that shouldn't be heard by others. Jaz had cheekily suggested that Callen should give Erin more practice at staying quiet.

"You never did tell me how you thanked Jaz for that," Erin said. Callen smiled, remembering Jaz. She was the equivalent of Eric, only in a smaller, bubbly girl package. Even though she was terrific at her job, everyone else had underestimated Jaz's talents, possibly to do with the fact that she looked about ten years younger than she really was. Everyone that is, except Callen and Erin, especially after that incident.

"Offered her best seat in the house Swan Lake tickets, or tickets and backstage passes to that heavy metal band she liked so much." Callen couldn't remember the name these days, it had been obscure back then and he didn't think they were still around. Jaz hadn't cared about a particular kind of music or dance style, just as long as she liked it, whatever it happened to be. She was a strange girl.

"Which did she chose?" Erin asked, as her fingers continued to drift lazily across his chest.

"Swan Lake. I don't think she thought I could pull off the backstage passes," Callen said chuckling. Erin felt the vibrations through his chest and smiled. She loved that; feeling his reactions, his happiness, from such a close position.

"Let me guess, you already had them," Erin replied, knowing how he would never disappoint Jaz.

"Yep."

"You know she really deserved both," Erin added, thinking about the trouble they would have been in. Everyone knew about their relationship and Director Taylor had approved it, as long as it stayed off the job.

"I know and she ended up with both," Callen said.

"Yeah? How?"

"Remember when we went away for a week just after that? The tickets mysteriously appeared on her desk whilst we were away," Callen replied. Taylor had been in on it and put them there for him, though Taylor certainly didn't know what it was he was actually giving her and why.

"That would be why she was looking at you strangely when we got back." Erin remembered, lifting her head to look at him.

"Yeah. I found a note on my desk later. 'I'll never doubt you again.' She never did." He noticed Erin's smiled disappear.

"What is it?" Callen asked, concerned.

"How did she handle it? When I ... 'died'," Erin asked. She hadn't really had a chance to think about how it would affect everyone else. They'd had to make the decision in less than eight hours.

"She didn't. It was too close to when her mother died. I couldn't bear seeing her like that," Callen remembered. When Taylor told everyone about Erin dying in a car crash, he saw the pain in Jaz's eyes and when she ran, he'd followed. He'd caught her in the lift and whispered in her ear that Erin was okay but no one could know. Jaz had never been able to hide what she was feeling, which is why she was the one behind the computer monitoring everything, rather than out in the field.

"Thank you," Erin whispered to him. Jaz had been like a little sister to them.

"Taylor gave her a few days off and she helped me pack up the apartment. She was able to handle it by the time she went back to work," Callen reassured her.

"With a few little tips from you on hiding how she really felt, I'm sure." Erin knew that he would have done everything he could to help her before he sent her back into the office.

"Yeah, that and a promise to let her know when you were alive again. Guess I should track her down," Callen said.

"You didn't keep in touch?" Erin asked, frowning again.

"After the funeral we decided it would be better if we didn't, make it easier for her to make everyone believe that you were really gone. We had a brief public fight where she blamed me for not being there, not driving you to work that day. It was supposed to make everyone avoid asking her about either of us once I left," Callen said. Taylor had organised his transfer, that had been when he'd come to OSP here in L.A. The fight hadn't been easy on either of them. Jaz in tears and running from him. Him not being able to go after her. It was one of the hardest things he'd hard to do to cover up for what Erin was really doing.

"So we both left her at the same time," Erin said, sadly. Callen's arms tightened around her in comfort.

"Yeah, Taylor promised he'd watch out for her."

"Good," Erin said. She trusted her old boss completely. Talking about Jaz reminded her of someone else. She looked up at him, biting her lip, not quite sure if she should ask.

"What?"

"Rachel. Did you try and find her?" Erin asked quietly, watching his reaction closely. She was rather surprised when he smiled.

"About six weeks ago, found her at a bar," Callen said. He looked at her with a sparkle in his eye, looking like he was trying hard not to smile any bigger.

"And?" she prompted.

"You up to playing mum?" Callen asked. Her eyes went wide.

"Seriously? She's yours?" Erin asked.

"Yeah," Callen said, not able to hold back the smile anymore. She replied with one of her own.

"So when I do I get to met this other woman in your life?" Erin asked, so pleased that he had found her. She knew how much Rachel had meant to him and how it hurt not to have her in his life anymore.

"Soon. I'm seeing her this weekend. Want to join me?" Callen asked, already knowing she would want to.

"Will she want to meet me?" Erin asked, suddenly nervous.

"She knows a bit about you. She'll be interested," Callen assured her. He'd confided in Rachel about Erin, just after they'd found one another again. With losing Dom and finding Rachel, he'd found it hard to keep thoughts of Erin back in the box. Rachel had noticed he was pre-occupied one night and he'd given in and told her. It made things easier having finally told someone, even if it wasn't everything. It had also helped build back the trust between Rachel and him, after the battering it had taken.

"This weekend then," Erin said as she settled her head back down on his chest.

"So, you think you want to work with me again?" Callen asked.

"I think that I might be able to handle it," Erin replied. She'd rather work with him than anyone else.

"Think you can still switch off?" Callen asked. They'd taken about six weeks to work out how to 'switch off' the burning they felt for one another. Well, it wasn't exactly switching it off but more training themselves to ignore it whilst working. It had ended up being a combination of things. Time was one, Callen had been right in a way. They had started to get used to the way the felt about each other, it was always there so it became their normal. It definitely hadn't been that the fire had started to cool, just that other things started to come into focus over those intense feelings. Also, knowing that they were each others, knowing that after work was over, they'd go home, together. Where, hopefully, there would be no bad guys to chase or chase them, and they could be together however they wanted or needed to be. That had helped, having that certainty of one another, knowing how the other felt. By then, they'd already admitted they loved each other. The final thing had happened at the six week mark. Someone had taken a shot at Erin. It hadn't hit her, Callen had been quick enough to push them both out of the way, but right before that, they'd both been momentarily distracted with a glance. It had only been brief, barely even a second, but what had followed with the shooting, scared them both. It was enough of a reminder, whenever they thought about it, to make sure it didn't happen again. And it hadn't. Those three things had added together to give them the ability to 'switch off'.

"Guess we'll just have to try and see if I can," Erin said, smiling.

"When would you like to start trying?" Callen asked, as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.

"Later," Erin replied, placing a gentle kiss on the nearest scar. "Don't want to even try and switch off yet." Callen felt her smile against his chest and knew that her eyes would be sparkling with mischief. It was so good to have her home, here with him, where he could protect her once again. Where she belonged.


End file.
